This invention pertains to the art of snap hooks and more particularly to spring biased snap hooks.
The invention is particularly applicable to spring biased snap hook which comprises a jib hank and will be described with particular reference thereto; however, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention has broader applications and may be adapted to other environments where a snap hook type arrangement may be advantageously utilized.
Jib hanks are typically employed in sailing vessels for affixing the outermost edge or margin of a jib sail to the forestay for ease of raising and lowering the sail as well as for ease of removing the sail from the forestay when desired. Conventionally, this forestay comprises a stainless steel rope or rod which runs from the bow of the sailing vessel to the upper area of the mainmast. Ease of raising and lowering the jib as well as installation and removal thereof is important in view of the fact that the sail jib is quite often adjusted during actual sailing and is normally removed from the vessel, at least for drying and many times for storage purposes, when the boat is not in use.
Jib hanks are known in the art and have heretofore comprised any number of styles and configurations. Usually, the jib hank includes two loop-like areas with one of these loops adapted to be loosely received over the forestay. The other loop is adapted to be connected to the jib sail itself through eyelets or the like disposed longitudinally along the edge or margin of the jib which is to be closely spaced to the forestay itself. Prior jib hanks have included various means for opening and closing these loop-like areas to facilitate their installation on the forestays and sails. Moreover, these prior jib hanks have been designed in a manner such that at least one of the loops may be easily opened and closed to facilitate ease of installation and removal of the sail on the forestay. Normally, the loop which was easily opened and closed was the loop designed to be received over the forestay itself.
While prior jib hanks have taken many shapes and configurations, such prior designs have had a number of disadvantages in practical use. First, prior jib hanks have typically been rather complicated in design and construction which rendered the individual jib hanks rather expensive. The expense for the individual jib hanks must be multiplied by the substantial number of them required and employed in a single sailing vessel jib sail environment. The result was that these prior jib hank designs were cost prohibitive to many boat owners.
Another problem with prior jib hanks has been in the types of construction involved. Many of the prior jib hanks have been cast or forged from metal which can be a rather expensive manufacturing process due to the necessity for extra machinery steps required to complete the structures. Moreover, such prior cast or forged jib hanks were extremely brittle and oftentimes snapped or broke during use. This breakage has been particularly evident and/or troublesome during installation and removal of the jib hanks from a jib sail and/or forestay.
The present invention contemplates a new article and method for making same which overcomes all of the above referred to problems and others and provides a new spring biased snap hook which is simple and economical to manufacture, reliable in use, has a long useful life and which is readily adapted to use in any number of environments where spring biased snap hooks are required or useful.